Manifestation
by Ytak
Summary: Fire Lord Zuko asks Aang, who brings Sokka along, to come help him get rid of a creature living in one wing of the palace.  Post TV series.


Written for the Spook_Me livejournal fic-a-thon. I hope you enjoy it as a Halloween story for the Avatar universe. :)

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Title: Manifestation  
Word Count: 1562  
Rating: K+

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The dining hall was empty except for Zuko, Sokka, and Aand as they ate lunch. Aang and Zuko ate a more leisurely pace than Sokka, who practically bolted his food like he expected it to run off his plate if he did not eat it fast enough.

"How is, um, Suki?" Zuko asked as he almost drew a blank on Sokka's girlfriend's name.

"Good." Sokka asked, awkwardly,"So, how's Mai?"

"Good."

They eyed each other a moment. "This small talk thing isn't going to work," Sokka observed.

"Nope," Zuko said. The silence settled around them. Aang cleared his throat to catch Zuko's attention as they were all done eating.

"Time for me to show you where I think the creature is residing?"

"Sounds good to me," Sokka said, relieved.

"Yeah, you still aren't much of a conversationalist," Aang added, teasing Zuko who humpfed but did not add anything.

* * *

"Where'd it come from?" Sokka asked.

"Don't you ever get tired of asking questions?" Zuko asked as he lead Sokka and Aang down an unused corridor. It was evident from the fine layer of dust on the the molding that people did not come back there much.

"Nope!" Sokka said, giving the Fire Lord a cheeky grin, knowing it would irritate him. Aang snickered but didn't add anything.

"I hope your children are just like you," Zuko muttered just loud enough for Sokka and Aang to hear. He froze a moment and shuddered, "I take that back. That's a really scary thought."

"Hey!"

All other speech was forestalled as an intense wave of heat passed over them and a flame whipped to the three teens. Zuko moved, bending the flame away from them but they were all forced to take cover.

"What is that thing?" Sokka asked as he whipped behind a convenient pillar. His stomach dropped when he could hear Aang swallow nervously from two pillars away.

"It think it's a demon," he said, barely loud enough to be heard by Sokka. "It's not just a creature, a living thing. It's a manifestation of the darkness and rage in a person's heart and soul."

'This is bad. Bad bad bad bad,' Sokka thought. Without any effort, he could recall a dozen stories Gran-Gran told him when he was young about monsters, demons, and other creatures that no longer walked among humans. Like the Avatar. Which meant they could come back, too.

"What do we do?" he asked, a breath from panic. "And where's Zuko? It's his palace!"

"Distracting the thing, boomerang head!" Zuko said, whipping flame towards the demon, driving it back a few feet.

"This is bad, Sokka," Aang said, "I've seen a couple since I've been traveling around and this is way more powerful than the others put together!"

Aang stepped from behind the pillar and took a stance, bend a wave of air at the demon. The air simply passed by it with no effect. He took another stance and pulled water from the very air and sent a whip of it at the demon. It let out an ear piercing shriek as the water hit it.

As quickly as the demon manifested, it vanished, only leaving scorch marks behind as testament to its having been there.

They stood blinking a moment. "I think its gone for now," Aang said, walking to where the demon had been. He knelt down and touched the ground, closing his eyes, trying to get a sense of where it might have gone.

Cautiously, Zuko walked up to him, with Sokka trailing behind, boomerang in hand. Aang shook his head and stood. "It's covered its tracks. I don't know where it is," he said frowning.

"I think I know where it might be," Zuko said, taking the lead. They walked on for a few minutes more. There was evidence of the demon marking the corridor. There were not simply scorch marks from its flames but a sent of burned flesh that they all knew from experience. Finally, they reached what looked like to be a finely made set of rooms before entering.

"Whose rooms were these?" Sokka asked as he noticed they were of good quality.

"Azula's."

Sokka shivered as he thought of Zuko's sister. The room seemed unnaturally dark despite some lit torches on the wall. "Why do you think its here?"

"Because, every time someone tries to approach these rooms, it appears," Zuko said, his voice flat. "No one else seems to know what to do." He shot a look at Sokka, "And I was wondering why you came along?"

"I asked him," Aang said. "He comes up with lots of good ideas and I figured he might be able to help." He stopped dead in his search once he entered the bedroom. "This is where it 'lives'," Aang said, eyes wide.

Sokka looked around the room, taking in the torn curtains and shattered furniture. "No, really?" he said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"It's got to be attached to something in this room," Aang said, slowly starting to do a circuit around the perimeter of the room.

"How do you know this?" Sokka asked.

"Oh, I learned a little from the Guru and _a lot_ from having to get rid of the first one," Aang replied, absently. Sokka followed behind him Aang. Zuko was a few paces behind him. He looked distinctly uneasy about being in Azula's former rooms.

A flash of light reflecting off of something drew their attention to one wall. On it hung a broken mirror, the pieces still on the floor.

Aang opened his mouth to say something but Sokka beat him to the punch, "It's pretty obvious where it is."

Zuko snorted. The temperature of the room began to rise, in a matter of seconds, they were sweating. Heat waves began to circle them, Zuko in particular, like they had a special hatred for him.

"Better work fast," Sokka muttered. "I think we about to have a second encounter."

"Destroying the mirror should banish the demon," Aang said. But instead of simply shattering it further, he took a stance and began to bend water from the air. Zuko and Sokka shivered as they could feel the water being drawn from surrounding rooms into the room they were in.

A wild keening began to fill the air and it grew stronger as more water was pulled into the room. Aang shifted his stance and brought the water up and ripped the mirror off the wall, suspending it in a globe of water, which he then froze.

The keening reached a pitch that forced Sokka and Zuko to cover their ears but Aang did not seem to notice as he took another stance and bent up the very earth into the heart of the ice enclosed mirror, shattering it into tiny pieces.

With a swift move, he engulfed those pieces in flame and scattered the ashes with a powerful wind.

Zuko and Sokka stared at Aang a moment.

"Wow," was all Sokka could say.

"That was impressive," Zuko acknowledged. "But is it gone?" he asked, sounding gruff but concern for his people underlying his voice.

Aang gave them the happy-go-lucky grin they knew him so well for, "Yep! Can't you feel how much lighter the room feels?"

Zuko held still, closing his eyes. There was a peace in the room that he had never sensed on any visit there over the years. He gave Aang a small smile, "It does feel lighter and more peaceful."

* * *

"It's amazing really," Sokka said as they walked away from the room.

"What is?" asked Aang with Zuko nodding.

"That something so powerful was contained in something as fragile as a mirror."

It was Zuko who spoke while Aang considered Sokka's statement, "If it was a manifestation of a part of Azula, I believe it. She was strong, seemed invincible but I heard reports after that she had seemed lost after Mai and Ty Lee quit following her. I never would have believed it. She seemed like nothing would make her fall apart. I didn't really think she cared about them in any way. I thought she kept them around because they were useful to her."

Aang nodded. "That's what it seems to be with demons. Strong people who have a shatter point. A part of them can't deal with what happened and a demon will happen, on rare occasions."

Sokka thought about what they said. "That sounds something like Gran-Gran once told." He scrunched up his face as he dug up an old memory, "Something about using the four elements to banish or destroy one. Oh."

"That didn't take as long as I hoped," Zuko muttered. Aang and Sokka turned towards him. Zuko flushed a little, "I'd rather not be couped up in meetings until supper which is what is going to happen."

A devious smile stretched across Sokka's face. "Play hooky. Seriously. You have to know a few places to go where they won't find you."

Zuko sputtered a little at his suggestion but then considered it. With a nod, he said, "Follow me."

Aang and Sokka shared a big grin and followed Zuko.


End file.
